Friday, January 23, 2009

This Silk/Merino Top is a DREAM to spin!
















I bought this Silk/Merino top (13 oz) last week at the Yarn Circle in Murphy NC. (Click on the image to get a larger view!)

I LOVE this stuff. It is sooooo schmooth and the colors are Gorgeous!! The 13oz of top cost 27.60. (Is that a typical price??) Anyhoooo, I am attempting to spin this worsted. I hope to 3-ply it and knit up a pair of handspun SOCKS! Yay!! (Oh, three plying is something that Judith taught us to do!)

While in NC I also bought one pound of corriedale fleece, some kid mohair (actually I think it was called something like 'young adult'), and 6 outdated "Spinoff" magazines. Included in the mags I got were articles by Judith MacKenzie McCuin (our teacher) detailing methods of washing fleece and plying yarn.

Anyway, like I said, Judith was our teacher for a week at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown NC. She was fabulous! She was soooo patient and kind AND I learned so much from her including....

**** once you have your default spinning figured out on your spinning wheel, all you have to do is vary the pulley (sometimes called whorl) in order to get LOTS of different sized yarns. You don't have to adjust your treadle speed at all. Below is a picture of merino top yarns that Judith spun using the pulley changing technique.

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